Halloween 2022: October 14th

The Devil's Candy (2015)

The connection between horror and heavy metal goes back to the beginning. After all, one of the foundational acts of the genre is named after a Mario Bava movie. Proto-Metal acts like Alice Cooper were awash with horror theatrics. By the time The Misfits started basing entire albums around horror homages, there was no going back. This link was especially fruitful in the eighties, when both horror and metal were the targets of moral panics. Both genres being happy to give the people what they want, there were a number of horror movies about heavy metal bands. Flicks like "Trick or Treat" or "Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare" became cult classics and we occasionally get a new metal-horror flick. Which brings me to "The Devil's Candy," Sean Byrne's much anticipated 2015 follow-up to "The Loved Ones." 

Metalhead and struggling artist Jesse is looking for a new home for himself, his wife Astrid, and their teenage daughter Zooey. (Who shares her father's interest in heavy music.) They find an affordable home in the Texas countryside with an impressively spacious studio. The house comes with a catch though: The previous residents died tragically. Raymond Smiley, who wails on his Flying V guitar to drown out the Satanic voices in his head telling him to kill, murdered his mother and father. Jesse buys the house anyway. He soon starts to hear the voices too. Moreover, Raymond is still out there, shredding on his guitar and reluctantly giving the devil his favorite candy: The lives of children. It's not long before he wants to return home. 

Those who saw "The Loved Ones" already knew that Sean Byrne was gifted at creating intense sequences. This is proven again in "The Devil's Candy." A tone of doomy dread is established in the first scene, where Raymond plays discordant music on his guitar as his mother butts her nose into his room. This continues in the scenes where Jesse, under the otherworldly influence, paints disturbing images. Scenes of Jesse arriving at school to pick up Zooey or a child swinging on a playground shows a visual precision, which helps in engineering effective scares. The best moment occurs in the last act, when Raymond bluntly deals with a police officer outside the household. Each act of violence, a gunshot or blow to the head, hits like a hammer. Or, perhaps, a big rock which is Raymond's preferred weapon. The fiery climax is impressive but the most striking visual in the film is a montage that cuts between Jesse painting and Raymond cleaning up after one of his murder, the swirling fluids quickly becoming indistinguishable. 

"The Devil's Candy" addresses the satanic panic that has long circled the metal genre in an interesting way. Raymond hears a whispering, persuasive voice in his head. When he can't drown it out with guitar riffs, he watches religious programming that rants about how the devil works through humanity. This suggests that Raymond isn't a Metalhead himself. In fact, despite his imposing physicality, he's a soft-spoken man who doesn't seem to want to kill. Jesse, meanwhile, loves loud, aggressive music full of macabre themes. When he hears the voices, he falls into a trance and makes graphic paintings of the children Raymond kills. While the film plays with the idea that Jesse is under the same demonic influence as the killer, the final scene reveals a more benign purpose behind his vision. All of this suggests that, whatever supernatural forces exist in this world, they don't drive us to kill. It's up to the individual human to decide what to do with the otherworldly static his cerebral radio picks up. 

The most unexpected aspect of “The Devil’s Candy” is the touching father/daughter link at the center of its story. It feels like positive parent/child relationships are rare in film in general, much less in the horror genre. Jesse and Zooey not only bond over their shared love of metal. They also have a deep understanding of each other. When Jesse screws up, he apologizes deeply and feels enormous guilt over letting his daughter down. He works extra hard to keep that promise. The performances from Ethan Embry and Kiara Glasco are utterly charming. It's so refreshing to see a movie that resists using a relationship like this as fodder for some deeper theme. There's no grand statement on parenthood, no attempt to use these two to add artificial depth to a simple story. Jesse and Zooey's bond, and the conflicts that emerge naturally and without contrivances, speak solely for themselves. You care about these characters because they are so well written and performed. When they are threatened, it makes the movie far more intense and involving. 

Did I mention that the entire movie, credits and all, runs a smooth 78 minutes long? Despite such a short runtime, "The Devil's Candy" never feels thin or underwritten. It says a lot, creates some intense thrills, involves us in its story, and gets out in under an hour-and-half. And then takes us out on a bitching montage set to "For Whom the Bells Toll." Could we have spent more time in this world, just hanging out with these lovable characters? Sure. And Raymond's condition could've been developed more, though I think the unexplained elements are too beguiling to loose. Ultimately, the only real complaint I have about "The Devil's Candy" is that it's too dark in a few scenes. Maybe that's just cause I bought the DVD, instead of the Blu-Ray. Either way, I loved this one even more on second viewing. I hope Sean Byrne gets to make another movie some day. [8/10]

Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)

El espanto surge de la tumba

Thanks to some enthusiastic recommendations from the long gone SciFilms website, I've been familiar with the name Paul Naschy for many years. He was Spain's home-grown horror star. A fan of classic monster movies, he played a werewolf, Dracula, Frankenstein, a mummy, and a hunchback over the course of numerous films in the sixties and seventies. Despite the enthusiasm Naschy had for the genre and these characters, his films rarely rose above the level of sleazy, drive-in camp. I've only seen one of his films before and, while selecting a second one, “Horror Rises from the Tomb” was a title that cropped up repeatedly. And, hey, it's on Tubi. Let's give it a shot.

In medieval France, sorcerer Alaric de Marnac is executed. After promising he'll return to haunt the descendants of those who condemned him, he is decapitated and his head buried apart from his body. His female companion, Mabille de Lancre, is also put to death. Hundreds of years later, Alaric's descendant is seeing visions of the warlock while painting. He travels with a  group of friends to the family estate in rural France. There, the warlock's decapitated head calls to them. Slowly, Alaric de Marnac is dug up and reunited with his body. After bringing Mabille back to life, he immediately seeks bloody, supernatural vengeance on all around him. 

Wikipedia informs me that Naschy wrote the script to “Horror Rises from the Tomb” in less than two days. This is readily apparent in the final product. The film's script is a mess of vague characters, unclear motivations, contrived plot points, and unnecessary subplots. The film begins with far too many characters, none of which are developed beyond the simplest ideas. They begin to fade into each other immediately, some of them even looking quite similar. (Naschy plays three separate characters.) The story starts in Paris, before leaping to an ancient castle without much cause, where most of the plot unfolds. Plot points like buried treasure and a wrecked car waltz in and out of the plot. There's a whole scene devoted to a roving group of criminals, who attack the cast and are executed by a lynch mob. None of this becomes relevant ever again. Heroes and villains switch places several times, especially as mind-control is also among the warlock's powers.  “Horror Rises from the Tomb” really feels like its script was slapped together without much consideration for coherence or logic.

It's well known that Naschy was a student of the Universal monster movies. This makes “Horror Rises from the Tomb's” resemblance to “The Thing That Couldn't Die” probably more than a coincidence. Yet the film is not content just being about a decapitated sorcerer who is reunited with his body. The movie throws in a number of horror premises. The first third includes a spooky séance and visions of a floating, bloody head. Before becoming whole, Alaric hypnotizes a number of random people into being his slaves, who willingly commit bloody murder for him. Once Alaric and his bride rise from their graves, he heavily resembles a vampire. He has a long cape, seduces and mesmerizes people, and is repelled by a medallion much the way Dracula is repelled by the crucifix. Naschy even sports fangs in a few scenes. Seemingly for the hell of it, the flick tosses in some zombies half-way through too. Some of the villain's victims rise again as undead, shambling corpses. If you think that's going to be important, then you're probably watching the wrong movie.

It almost goes without saying that the movie's presentation is cheap and cheesy. The cinematography is filled with the shitty crash-zooms that were commonplace in Spanish horror. The organ-driven score is corny as can be. The special effects, as you might expect, are crude. The dubbing is dreadful. Yet Naschy and his team occasionally touch upon a striking, classic horror image. There's some strong use of fog and Bava-esque color in a few scenes. A moment devoted to Alaric and his bride rising from their caskets looks pretty cool. There's a certain sleazy gusto to the way Naschy and his team insert exploitation elements into this classic horror story. Throats are slashed, hearts are yanked out, and heads are cut off. There's quite a lot of nudity and sex, as the villain often likes to seduce his female victims before drinking their blood. 

That peculiar mix is, I think, where the appeal of Paul Naschy's films lie. He combines an enthusiasm for classic monster kid trappings with grindhouse movie sleaze and a do-it-yourself roughness behind the camera. It doesn't result in a movie that's good by any traditional metric. “Horror Rises from the Tomb” is actually quite hard-to-follow at times and takes a while to get grooving. Yet, once it reaches that sweet spot, I found myself entertain by its kitchen sink approach to horror concepts and the greasy charm Naschy brings to the villainous role. I think I definitely will seek out more of his films in the future. (Though probably not the sequel he made to this one, about a decade later.) [6/10]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1986): Final Escape

When it comes to the little loved eighties revival of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” it can be hard to choose episode. There's not been much written about it. Looking at IMDb scores, it seems “Final Escape” is among the series' most highly regarded installments. Lena Trent's attempt to convince the judge that she didn't kill her husband is unsuccessful. She is sent off to a women's prison, where she immediately begins to make enemies with the other in-mates and makes numerous attempts to escape. Lena befriends Doc, the prison undertaker who is slowly going blind. They concoct a plan to ship Lena out of the prison in a casket. 

This is one of the episodes of the 1986 version of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” that is a direct remake of an episode from the original series. The protagonist's gender is switched around, which makes this “Final Escape” an entry into the women-in-prison genre. I haven't seen the original episode yet but it seems the melodrama of the scenario is played up more. Lena spends nearly the entire episode getting the shit kicked out of her by the other in-mates. Season Hubley's performance is pitched as high as possible, making many of her interactions as theatrical as possible. It's a high-strung half-hour of television that walks the line between the sublime and the ridiculous. 

If there's any issue I have with “Final Escape,” it's whether we're suppose to root for Lena or not. The first scene introduces her as a scheming, self-interested femme fatale. She tries to play the judge and everyone else she encounters with a tear-strewn act. When that doesn't work, she immediately turns up the bitchiness. Yet, as the episode repeatedly shows her getting abused, I was wondering if we're suppose to root for her after all. By the time she's blatantly lying to manipulate poor ol' Doc, it's clear were our sympathies are meant to lie. This sets up the episode's dark, ironic ending which is also it's most explicit horror element. That climax is strong enough that it makes the whole episode, so you should discover it yourself. While a bit undecisive, I think I still have to recommend this one. [6/10]

The Munsters: Lily Munster - Girl Model / Munster the Magnificent

“The Munsters” does a not-so-bright take on the women's liberation movement with “Lily Munster – Girl Model.” Frustrated with no one having time for her, Lily decides to get a job outside the home. After a number of unsuccessful gigs, Lily gets hired as a runway model. This immediately makes Herman jealous, who cooks up a ridiculous plot with Grandpa to manipulate his wife into leaving her new job. In “Munster the Magnificent,” Eddie selects his father to perform at a school children/parents talent show. This is a problem, as Herman doesn't have many special skills. Eventually, the Munsters patriarch decides to give being a stage magician a try. After he proves incompetent at that too, Grandpa steps in to help.

I guess it's inevitable that a 150 year old Frankenstein wouldn't have the most enlightened opinions on women's employment. His petty reason for tearing down Lily's new job is disappointing. Despite that, “Lily Munster – Girl Model” is still a pretty funny episode. The montage of jobs Lily holds down briefly is amusing, with her failed attempts at being a secretary being the silliest gag. Grandpa presenting Herman with a series of pills that can turn him into any number of then-relevant sex symbols gets increasingly bizarre, as he tries on personas based on Frank Sinatra and a French movie star. There's also an unexpected shout-out to Pat Boone and Mr. Clean! Things get even weirder as a gender-bending twist is added. The result is a deliriously silly episode with some seriously strange connotations, that I'd rather not entertain. 

“Munster the Magnificent” continues this show's tradition of giving Herman various random jobs. Here, he takes on the title of stage magician. Obviously, the premise of Grandpa helping him out from off-stage is going to result in shenanigans. Though maybe not in the way you'd expect.. As always, Fred Gwynne's way with a silly one-liner or sideways glance counts for a lot. His reaction to a dove appearing under his hat, or telling dad jokes while pulling ribbons out of his sleeve, makes it all with it. Somehow, none of these gags rank among the episode's goofiest. That would be when Grandpa sleeps some automatic dancing shoes on Herman's feet, causing him to perform ballet all over the house and streets. Also, Pat Priest wears a leggy magician's assistant outfit in this episode, for the guys looking for that kind of thing. [Lily Munster – Girl Model: 7/10 / Munster the Magnificent: 6/10]